Quercetin analogues of kojic acid as strong antioxidant derivatives: Theoretical insights

Kojic acid is a natural product produced by many fungal species and has a wide range of applications. The chelating and antioxidant capacity are associated with their chemical and biological properties. In this study, some molecular modifications were proposed and substituted and hydroxylated phenyl moieties were introduced in the basic structure of kojic acid. The antioxidant capacities were calculated by DFT/B3LYP/6-311++G(2d,2p). Different antioxidant mechanisms were considered such as frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO, LUMO, and GAP), electron (IP, SET, and SPLET), or hydrogen transfers (BDE_OH and HAT) on gas phase and PCM methods. The phenyl increases the antioxidant capacity, especially when an electron donating group (EDG) is found at the para position of the phenyl ring when compared to electron withdrawing groups (EWGs), for all studied mechanisms. The chemical stability agrees with spin density contributions for their cationic free radicals and semiquinones. A structural similarity between hydroxylated derivatives of kojic acid and quercetin was observed on gas phase and water. The lower BDE_OH values ​​at the phenol positions are more important for the antioxidant capacity than at the enol position. Phenolic semiquinones are more stables than enolic ones. The chemical stability depends on the number of resonance structures and the positions where the unpaired electron can be found with the highest contributions. In conclusion, phenyl substitution is a valuable molecular modification for the increase on antioxidant capacity of kojic acid. Quercetin analogues of kojic acid were proposed as strong antioxidant derivatives.